Britain and Europe's poshest music festivals

By Tamara Hinson, for CNN

Updated 1413 GMT (2113 HKT) August 9, 2013

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Cornbury Music Festival, Oxfordshire, UK – Known as "poshstock," especially after Eton-educated British PM David Cameron attended this year, Cornbury calls itself a "homespun melting pot where music-lovers share pies and a glass of champagne with superstars, toffs [and] rockers."

Øya Festival, Oslo, Norway – Never mind soggy burgers, even organic ones. When it comes to refreshments, this Scandinavian music fest goes large on the region's supreme popularity among foodies.

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Aphrodite Festival, Paphos, Cyprus – The singers get all emotional at this operatic extravaganza but the audience tend to keep it genteel.

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Festival No 6, Portmeirion, Wales – Inevitably, yurts are an accommodation option at this Welsh "bespoke banquet of music, arts and culture." So is a castle -- now, that's really not Glastonbury 1978.

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Verbier Festival, Verbier, Switzerland – You won't find much camping at this Swiss classical music retreat but you might want to brush up on chat about tax havens and the latest limited edition time pieces.

Tomorrow Land, Boom, Belgium – An electronic-dance festival, yes, but do this couple look as though they enjoy tucking into a greasy post-club takeaway? This event has a Michelin-starred chef advising on the food.

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Galtres Festival, North Yorkshire, UK – Give "us [British] a fine tune, a glass of something nice to drink and a posh house, and we're the happiest folk in the world." Galtres' director articulates the posh-festival ethos to perfection.

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Story highlights

Eton-educated British PM David Cameron spotted at "Poshstock" festival

Are mud-splattered headbanger fests under threat?

Yurts and hempseed smoothies among ingredients of these upscale get-togethers

Interval chat might include world's best tax-free havens

Is the music festival as scene of warm beer, ear-drum-shattering amplification and mud-splattered mayhem under threat?

With Britain's Eton-educated Conservative prime minister, David Cameron, spotted at Cornbury -- aka Poshstock -- this year, Glastonbury tickets costing upward of $300 and yurts and hempseed smoothies present at even the most ordinary events, all the evidence is there.

At these popular upscale music and culture fests in Britain (the country seems to specialize in them) and Europe, guests are as well-bred as the organic cows minced up for the burgers, the music avoids topics of social revolution and the booze may be bubbly, but it also tends to be French.

Cornbury Music Festival, Oxfordshire, UK

Britain's Eton-educated PM David Cameron was spotted -- behind sunglasses -- at Cornbury this year. Could this be the ultimate sign of a non-divey festival?

Known as "poshstock," especially since British Prime Minister David Cameron was spotted there this year (albeit apparently hiding behind a pair of fake Ray-Ban sunglasses), the festival places great emphasis on comfort.

With accommodation options including yurts (yes, the surprise accommodation hit of the decade has even made it to this bastion of the British establishment) and fully furnished cabins, you feel as if you're checking into a charming little boutique hotel here, rather than attending a three-day open-air music festival.

Yoga workshops are available, should you suffer any back strain catching a glimpse of acts including Van Morrison and The Proclaimers.

The VIP tent has plush sofas and a hair salon if you get too out of sorts.

Festival No 6; every September (13-15 in 2013); tickets from £170 ($265)

Aphrodite Festival, Paphos, Cyprus

Held in the grounds of the city's medieval castle, Aphrodite is a global highlight on the opera lover's calendar.

Singers might hit the high notes but you shouldn't get carried away by all the extravagant emotion depicted in the opera performances -- the prevailing mood here is genteel, just in the way it isn't at, say, the Bloodstock Open Air heavy metal festival in Derbyshire, UK.

Highlight of this year's Aphrodite lineup is the Donizetti opera L'Elisir D'Amore, performed by the Opera Future Verona.

"We British love our stately homes," says the 45-year-old director of this Yorkshire event, James Houston.

"Give us a fine tune, a glass of something nice to drink and a posh house, and we're the happiest folk in the world."

Thus is the posh-festival ethos perfectly articulated.

Apart from the venue, Duncombe Park stately home, the culinary approach here is about as starkly different from the lukewarm beer and equally lukewarm food of what some would regard as a properly grimy festival.

Everything is resolutely local, seasonal, "artisan" and Fairtrade, from the tea and cakes from the Deliciousness Tea Shop, to the Full of Beans coffee and the really rather annoyingly titled Boogie Breakfasts.

You won't find soggy burgers, or even organic ones. All forest herbs and fungi, Scandinavian grub is front of the queue for discerning foodies at the moment, and Øya shows it off with pretentious elan.

The word "twee" inevitably suggests itself when describing this festival of music and the arts set in and around yet another stately home.

A sample of the non-headbanging performances on show include the poet Luke Wright, gentle satirist of yummy mummies and inbred aristocratic politicians, and a capella versions of pop songs from the 50 Degrees Choir.

Exhibits, when you tire of all that noise, have included a collection of dolls owned by various legendary fashion designers.